7 U.S.C. § 3151b — Veterinary services grant program

Page 1579 TITLE 7—AGRICULTURE § 3151b (e) Regulations Notwithstanding subchapter II of chapter 5 of title 5, not later than 270 days after the date of enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall promulgate regulations to carry out this section. (f) Authorization of appropriations There are authorized to be appropriated for carrying out this section such sums as may be necessary and such sums shall remain available to the Secretary for the purposes of this section until expended. (Pub. L. 95–113, title XIV, § 1415A, as added Pub. L. 108–161, § 2, Dec. 6, 2003, 117 Stat. 2014; amend- ed Pub. L. 110–234, title VII, § 7105(a), May 22, 2008, 122 Stat. 1216; Pub. L. 110–246, § 4(a), title VII, § 7105(a), June 18, 2008, 122 Stat. 1664, 1977.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT The date of enactment of this subsection, referred to in subsec. (e), is the date of enactment of Pub. L. 110–246, which was approved June 18, 2008. CODIFICATION Pub. L. 110–234 and Pub. L. 110–246 made identical amendments to this section. The amendments by Pub. L. 110–234 were repealed by section 4(a) of Pub. L. 110–246. AMENDMENTS 2008—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 110–246, § 7105(a)(1), added subsec. (b) and struck out former subsec. (b) which au- thorized the Secretary to consider certain factors in de- termining ‘‘veterinarian shortage situations’’. Subsec. (c)(8). Pub. L. 110–246, § 7105(a)(2), added par. (8). Subsecs. (d) to (f). Pub. L. 110–246, § 7105(a)(3), (4), added subsecs. (d) and (e) and redesignated former sub- sec. (d) as (f). Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE OF 2008 AMENDMENT Amendment of this section and repeal of Pub. L. 110–234 by Pub. L. 110–246 effective May 22, 2008, the date of enactment of Pub. L. 110–234, see section 4 of Pub. L. 110–246, set out as an Effective Date note under section 8701 of this title. § 3151b. Veterinary services grant program (a) Definitions In this section: (1) Qualified entity The term ‘‘qualified entity’’ means— (A) a for-profit or nonprofit entity located in the United States that, or an individual who, operates a veterinary clinic providing veterinary services— (i) in a rural area, as defined in section 1991(a) of this title; and (ii) in a veterinarian shortage situation; (B) a State, national, allied, or regional veterinary organization or specialty board recognized by the American Veterinary Med- ical Association; (C) a college or school of veterinary medi- cine accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association; (D) a university research foundation or veterinary medical foundation; (E) a department of veterinary science or department of comparative medicine accred- ited by the Department of Education; (F) a State agricultural experiment sta- tion; or (G) a State, local, or tribal government agency. (2) Veterinarian shortage situation The term ‘‘veterinarian shortage situation’’ means a veterinarian shortage situation as de- termined by the Secretary under section 3151a of this title. (b) Establishment (1) Competitive grants The Secretary shall carry out a program to make competitive grants to qualified entities that carry out programs or activities de- scribed in paragraph (2) for the purpose of de- veloping, implementing, and sustaining veteri- nary services. (2) Eligibility requirements A qualified entity shall be eligible to receive a grant described in paragraph (1) if the entity carries out programs or activities that the Secretary determines will— (A) substantially relieve veterinarian shortage situations; (B) support or facilitate private veterinary practices engaged in public health activities; or (C) support or facilitate the practices of veterinarians who are providing or have completed providing services under an agree- ment entered into with the Secretary under section 3151a(a)(2) of this title. (c) Award processes and preferences (1) Application, evaluation, and input proc- esses In administering the grant program estab- lished under this section, the Secretary shall— (A) use an appropriate application and evaluation process, as determined by the Secretary; and (B) seek the input of interested persons. (2) Coordination preference In selecting recipients of grants to be used for any of the purposes described in subsection (d)(1), the Secretary shall give a preference to qualified entities that provide documentation of coordination with other qualified entities, with respect to any such purpose. (3) Consideration of available funds In selecting recipients of grants to be used for any of the purposes described in subsection (d), the Secretary shall take into consider- ation the amount of funds available for grants and the purposes for which the grant funds will be used. (4) Nature of grants A grant awarded under this section shall be considered to be a competitive research, ex- tension, or education grant. Page 1580 TITLE 7—AGRICULTURE § 3151b (d) Use of grants to relieve veterinarian shortage situations and support veterinary services (1) In general Except as provided in paragraph (2), a quali- fied entity may use funds provided by a grant awarded under this section to relieve veteri- narian shortage situations and support veteri- nary services for any of the following pur- poses: (A) To promote recruitment (including for programs in secondary schools), placement, and retention of veterinarians, veterinary technicians, students of veterinary medi- cine, and students of veterinary technology. (B) To allow veterinary students, veteri- nary interns, externs, fellows, and residents, and veterinary technician students to cover expenses (other than the types of expenses described in section 3151a(c)(5) of this title) to attend training programs in food safety or food animal medicine. (C) To establish or expand accredited vet- erinary education programs (including fac- ulty recruitment and retention), veterinary residency and fellowship programs, or vet- erinary internship and externship programs carried out in coordination with accredited colleges of veterinary medicine. (D) To provide continuing education and extension, including veterinary telemedicine and other distance-based education, for vet- erinarians, veterinary technicians, and other health professionals needed to strengthen veterinary programs and enhance food safe- ty. (E) To provide technical assistance for the preparation of applications submitted to the Secretary for designation as a veterinarian shortage situation under this section or sec- tion 3151a of this title. (F) To expose students in grades 11 and 12 to education and career opportunities in food animal medicine. (2) Qualified entities operating veterinary clin- ics A qualified entity described in subsection (a)(1)(A) may only use funds provided by a grant awarded under this section to establish or expand veterinary practices, including— (A) equipping veterinary offices; (B) sharing in the reasonable overhead costs of such veterinary practices, as deter- mined by the Secretary; or (C) establishing mobile veterinary facili- ties in which a portion of the facilities will address education or extension needs. (e) Special requirements for certain grants (1) Terms of service requirements (A) In general Funds provided through a grant made under this section to a qualified entity de- scribed in subsection (a)(1)(A) and used by such entity under subsection (d)(2) shall be subject to an agreement between the Sec- retary and such entity that includes a re- quired term of service for such entity (in- cluding a qualified entity operating as an in- dividual), as established by the Secretary. (B) Considerations In establishing a term of service under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall con- sider only— (i) the amount of the grant awarded; and (ii) the specific purpose of the grant. (2) Breach remedies (A) In general An agreement under paragraph (1) shall provide remedies for any breach of the agreement by the qualified entity referred to in paragraph (1)(A), including repayment or partial repayment of the grant funds, with interest. (B) Waiver The Secretary may grant a waiver of the repayment obligation for breach of contract if the Secretary determines that such quali- fied entity demonstrates extreme hardship or extreme need. (C) Treatment of amounts recovered Funds recovered under this paragraph shall— (i) be credited to the account available to carry out this section; and (ii) remain available until expended without further appropriation. (f) Prohibition on use of grant funds for con- struction Except as provided in subsection (d)(2), funds made available for grants under this section may not be used— (1) to construct a new building or facility; or (2) to acquire, expand, remodel, or alter an existing building or facility, including site grading and improvement and architect fees. (g) Regulations Not later than 1 year after February 7, 2014, the Secretary shall promulgate regulations to carry out this section. (h) Authorization of appropriations (1) In general There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this section $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2014 and each fiscal year thereafter, to remain available until ex- pended. (2) Priority From amounts made available for grants under this section, the Secretary shall prioritize grant awards for programs or activi- ties with a focus on the practice of food ani- mal medicine. (Pub. L. 95–113, title XIV, § 1415B, as added Pub. L. 113–79, title VII, § 7104, Feb. 7, 2014, 128 Stat. 866; amended Pub. L. 115–334, title VII, § 7106, Dec. 20, 2018, 132 Stat. 4783.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 2018—Subsec. (d)(1)(F). Pub. L. 115–334, § 7106(1), added subpar. (F). Subsec. (h). Pub. L. 115–334, § 7106(2), designated exist- ing provisions as par. (1), inserted heading, and added par. (2). Page 1581 TITLE 7—AGRICULTURE § 3152 § 3152. Grants and fellowships for food and agri- cultural sciences education (a) Higher education teaching programs The Secretary shall promote and strengthen higher education in the food and agricultural sciences by formulating and administering pro- grams to enhance college and university teach- ing programs in agriculture, natural resources, forestry, veterinary medicine, home economics, disciplines closely allied to the food and agricul- tural system, and rural economic, community, and business development. (b) Grants The Secretary may make competitive grants (or grants without regard to any requirement for competition) to land-grant colleges and uni- versities (including the University of the Dis- trict of Columbia), to colleges and universities having significant minority enrollments and a demonstrable capacity to carry out the teaching of food and agricultural sciences, and to other colleges and universities having a demonstrable capacity to carry out the teaching of food and agricultural sciences, for a period not to exceed 5 years— (1) to strengthen institutional capacities, in- cluding curriculum, faculty, scientific instru- mentation, instruction delivery systems, and student recruitment and retention, to respond to identified State, regional, national, or international educational needs in the food and agricultural sciences, or in rural eco- nomic, community, and business development; (2) to attract and support undergraduate and graduate students in order to educate the stu- dents in national need areas of the food and agricultural sciences, or in rural economic, community, and business development; (3) to facilitate cooperative initiatives be- tween two or more eligible institutions, or be- tween eligible institutions and units of State government or organizations in the private sector, to maximize the development and use of resources such as faculty, facilities, and equipment to improve food and agricultural sciences teaching programs, or teaching pro- grams emphasizing rural economic, commu- nity, and business development; (4) to design and implement food and agri- cultural programs, or programs emphasizing rural economic, community, and business de- velopment, to build teaching, research, and ex- tension capacity at colleges and universities having significant minority enrollments; (5) to conduct undergraduate scholarship programs to meet national and international needs for training food and agricultural sci- entists and professionals, or professionals in rural economic, community, and business de- velopment; and (6) to conduct graduate and postdoctoral fel- lowship programs to attract highly promising individuals to research or teaching careers in the food and agricultural sciences. (c) Priorities In awarding grants under subsection (b), the Secretary shall give priority to— (1) applications for teaching enhancement projects that demonstrate enhanced coordina- tion among all types of institutions eligible for funding under this section; and (2) applications for teaching enhancement projects that focus on innovative, multidisci- plinary education programs, material, and curricula. (d) Eligibility for grants (1) In general To be eligible for a grant under subsection (b), a recipient institution must have a signifi- cant demonstrable commitment to higher edu- cation teaching programs in the food and agri- cultural sciences, or in rural economic, com- munity, and business development, and to each specific subject area for which the grant is to be used. (2) Minority groups The Secretary may set aside a portion of the funds appropriated for the awarding of grants under subsection (b), and make such amounts available only for grants to eligible colleges and universities (including the University of the District of Columbia) that the Secretary determines have unique capabilities for achieving the objective of full representation of minority groups in the food and agricul- tural sciences workforce, or in the rural eco- nomic, community, and business development workforce, of the United States. (3) Research foundations An eligible college or university under sub- section (b) includes a research foundation maintained by the college or university. (e) Food and agricultural education information system From amounts made available for grants under this section, the Secretary may maintain a national food and agricultural education infor- mation system that contains— (1) information on enrollment, degrees awarded, faculty, and employment placement in the food and agricultural sciences; and (2) such other similar information as the Secretary considers appropriate. (f) Evaluation of teaching programs The Secretary shall conduct programs to de- velop, analyze, and provide to colleges and uni- versities data and information that are essential to the evaluation of the quality of teaching pro- grams and to facilitate the design of more effec- tive programs comprising the food and agricul- tural sciences higher education system of the United States. (g) Continuing education The Secretary shall conduct special programs with colleges and universities, and with organi- zations in the private sector, to support edu- cational initiatives to enable food and agricul- tural scientists and professionals to maintain their knowledge of changing technology, the ex- panding knowledge base, societal issues, and other factors that impact the skills and com- petencies needed to maintain the expertise base available to the agricultural system of the United States. The special programs shall in- clude grants and technical assistance.